A number of patents have been granted to date upon boxes designed for providing hot food to a consumer. For example, the Turpin U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,757 entitled "Microwave Heating Package and Method" pertains to a paperboard carton designed to receive food to be cooked, under controlled circumstances, in a microwave oven. Although this patent relates to a generally satisfactory device, it is much more complicated and much more expensive than can be justified for providing hot food to a consumer in many circumstances.
The Doboze U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,543 entitled "Disposable Foam Plastic Pizza Container" pertains to a thermally insulated disposable container for pizzas, pies and other round, flat food items. This patentee deliberately moves away from the use of the commonly used, square pizza boxes, and proposes the use of a pair of round, joined together sections made of polystyrene foam, or other food-compatible plastic food material. However, this also is a very expensive approach, necessitating the creation of elaborately configured molds for creating containers of this type. The efficacy of the Doboze approach is sufficiently marginal as not to justify this expense.
The Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,369 entitled "Heat Retaining Food Container" is an even more expensive and more elaborate device for receiving food items that are to be heated in a microwave oven and then served hot some considerable period of time later. Such elaborate and expensive approaches as this, despite their commendable features, simply cannot be justified in most circumstances, such as in connection with the local delivery of fast foods.
It was to overcome the disadvantages of these approaches, and to make possible the economical delivery of fast food in a satisfactorily hot condition in boxes generally along the lines of conventional configuration that the instant invention was created.